Lifting-jack.



T. A. RICHARDSON & E. WOODINGS.

LIFTINGJACK.

- APPLICATION FILED JAN. 26, 1914.

' Patented J 11110 18, 1918.

WITNESSES.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

THOMAS A. RICHARDSON, OF VEBONA BOROUGH, EMANUEL WOODINGS, OF

OAKMONT BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS T0 VEBONA TOOL WORKS, I 01PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification of Letters Intent; Patented J 119 18, 1918,

Application filed January' 26, 1914. Serial No. 814,393.

7 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS A. RICH- ARDSON and EMANUEL WOODINGS, arecitizens of the United States, and residents of Verona borough andOakmont borough, in the county of Allegheny and State of sylvania, haveinvented a, new and useful Improvement in Lifting-Jacks; and we dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof.

Our invention relates to jacks, its object bein to provide a compactjack occupying but fittle height, so providing a jack of less weight andbulk, this being the character of jack needed for different classes ofwork, such as track ballasting, and the like.

It comprises, generally stated, the combination of a jack frame, atoothed rack, a hand lever carried in a pivot pin supported on theframe, a pawl pivoted on the hand lever between the rack and pivot pin,and a detent mounted on the pivot pin and extending up to engage withthe rack beyond the pawl. It also comprises other improvements ashereafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a View of the jack in theoperation of lifting; Fig. 2 is a like view showing the method oftripping the jack; Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 33, Fig.1; Fig. 4 is a view of the end of the hand lever with the pawl ordetent; Fig. 5 is a modification.

The frame 2 of the jack is formed of iron or steel cast to shape, andhas therein the guideway 3 in which is mounted the toothed rack 1, saidtoothed rack being shown with the foot 5 and having referably thegrooves 6 in which the ribs 7 on the frame enter to guide the movementof the rack bar. The

jack frame has the pawl pocket 8 at one side of the guideway 3, whichsupports in bearings 15 the main pivot pin 9 on which is mounted thehand lever 10. This hand lever has at its inner end between the pivotpin and rack the pawl seat 11 which has the form of a recess slightlymore than a half circle, so as to retain therein the bearing 13 of thepawl 12.

As shown in Fig. 3 the portion 14 of the pawl pocket near the guideway 3is formed of the same width as the guideway and the forward end of thehand lever 10 and the body'of the pawl 12 enter into this porennv tion14 of the guideway. The pocket is widened where it is provided with the'bearings 15 of the pivot pin 13, such widened portion 17 being of anincreased width corresponding to t e thickness of the side arms 19 ofthe detent 18, the head 20 of the detent being of a greater width thanthe top of the pawl 12, while the arm's 19 thereof extend down withinthe widened portion 17 of the pawl pocket and fit around and havingtheir support or bearing on the pivot pin 9 as shown. Thus a verycompact form of jack is provided in which the hand lever may be mountedlow down in the jack frame, and the detent 18 may be brought by itsmounting close to the top of the pawl, while a short pawl may beemployed effectively to do the Work and it is practicable to form a jackhaving great strength and having a body of a foot or less in height. Aswill be noted in Fig. 3 the arms 19 of the detent 18 will serve tocenter the hand lever within the frame fillin the enlarged pawl pocketat this point. T ese arms 19 also overlap the pivot portion 13 of thepawl body 12 where it is seated in the hand lever retaining it in place,so that even though it may swing out of the narrow portion 14 of thepawl pocket, by means of these side arms or wings, it is always heldlaterally in position on the hand lever and hand lever with its pawlsand detent are all properly centered within the pawl pocket.

In the operation of the jack, the pawl and detent are normally held bytheir weight, in engagement with the rack and the rack is lifted by theswing of the handr lever tooth by tooth, being held in positioii by thedetent when the pawl drops down to engage another tooth.

When it is desired to trip the jack, it is only necessary to give alonger downward stroke to the hand lever when it carries the pawl backagainst the detent, as indicated in Fig. 2,-and so pushes the detentfrom contact with the rack. Upon raising the hand lever the pawl anddetent again swing forward to engage the rack. In Fig. 5 is shown amodification of the invention in which the detent 25 instead of havingarms fitted outside of the hand lever, has a centrally extending arm 26which fits tral seat 28 formed for its reception in the hand lever 29,thus providing for the mounting of the detent directly on the pivot pin,and giving some of the same advantages as the preferred constructionshows in the other figures of the drawing. 7

By our invention We are enabled to provide a very compact and strongjack and to mount the detent at a lower position in which it hassufiicient strength to fully support the load on the jack, and in whichit can also be quickly and easily tripped When necessary to drop the ack; while the jack can be made so low that in many cases the load can Mecarried direct upon the rack, instead of requiring the preliminarylifting by means of the foot thereof.

What we claim is:

A jack in combination with a frame, a

toothed rack therein, a hand lever mounted on a pivot pin supported inthe frame hav- 2 lng a recessed seat at its forward end, a

of the hand lever and mounted on the pivot 25 pin and overlapping thejournal of the pawl where 1t 1s mounted in the hand lever.

In testimony whereof, we the said THOMAS A. RICHARDSON and EMANUELWooomos have hereunto set our hands.

THOMAS A. RICHARbSON. EMANUEL WOODINGS.

Witnesses:

ALVAR C. PURDY, JOHN F. WILL.

